Hearts Parade of a Lyrical Life

Why One Might Cede

I sat in class and refused to look in Ryan's direction, at the time all I felt was burning anger, but upon closer inspection it wasn't really anger at all, I was humiliated. After all Dallon had done to try and pull us apart Ryan somehow just, agreed to it? Agreed to breaking up with me so that he could go and join a band with a guy I thought he couldn't stand. Our teacher assigned each of our pairs the poems we would be analysing, Ryan, and Kayla and Lucy both got poems from classmates we hadn't spoken to before.

"Grace and Y/N. Come up and pick a name out of the hat." Said Professor Hughes. Grace and I made our way to the front of the class, I let Grace pick the name out of the hat and she handed it over to the professor, "Ryan and Oliver's poem, very good!" My frown was palpable. Not only did I currently want nothing to do with him, but his poem was nonsensical and hard to understand, it would be a lot of work to analyse. I went to Eden after class and ate in silence whilst letting the others talk amongst themselves.

Grace noticed my hostile demeanour and asked, "What's up? You didn't sit with us in class today."

I chewed angrily on my sandwich, taking my frustration out with each overexaggerated bite, but I didn't want to make my issues anyone else's, "Ryan and I broke up is all, I don't wanna talk about it." Grace wasn't one to pry when asked not to so she didn't, a thought crossed my mind, "We have to work on our assignment," Grace looked at me sympathetically, understanding why that might not seem like such a fun idea to me, "Are you free today after classes?"

"Yeah," Grace spoke. She laid a gentle palm on my shoulder, "Hey, can we maybe work on it at the public library?"

I liked the idea, it would give me some space from all the people at school, most likely avoiding Ryan in the process. The plan wasn't to avoid him forever, but it was definitely to talk to him openly once my anger had subsided a bit, it had only just happened this morning. I agreed to Grace's suggestion and she continued talking to the others, sensing my need to be left alone for a bit. It was hard to stay angry at Eden, though it was getting colder, the autumn leaves of the tree had such a beautiful hue to them.

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I saw Ryan in class looking at me pleadingly to give him the comfort of sitting near him for some kind of camaraderie, but I wasn't interested. Grace looked to me as if for permission and I nodded, letting her and the others sit with Ryan while I went and sat by myself again. I preferred it this way. Who knows, maybe this breakup would prove academically beneficial?

Classes ended and Grace walked up to where I sat, still packing my bag. Ryan hung back. What does he want? I wondered, though I didn't actually care to find out. I walked swiftly past him before he had the chance to so much as utter a word to me, and that was satisfaction in itself. Hurt people hurt people, that's what they say, and I was hurt.

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Grace and I arrived at the local library, it was just a 15-minute walk from the school so it wasn't all that far. One of the good things about our College was how it was situated in the centre of the town's hub, which made most places within walking distance from the school, and thus, my dorm.

Grace grabbed us a table to sit at, she picked one by the checkout counters where the staff worked which I thought to be most inconvenient, though I didn't fight it. I got out my things to begin working and opened up their poem to read through it again.

It still didn't make any sense. The title, 'I Jest, for thou art mine hearts root, so doth thee omit it' seemed convoluted for the sake of it. The poem was littered with medieval language that Grace and I would have to work mercilessly through to translate, and the structure was very clearly intentional. I was overwhelmed with where to start. "This is a nightmare." I lamented to Grace.